Understanding the Needs of Every Size of School System

On this page, you’ll find an in-depth overview of my leadership experience across large, medium, and small school districts. I highlight my systems-level expertise, budget leadership, labor-management experience, and cross-sector preparation, which enable me to excel in complex educational environments.

Superintendent & System Builder

As Superintendent & CEO of AIMS K–12 College Prep Charter District, Maya:

  • Led the full portfolio of district responsibilities: governance, instruction, finance, HR, operations, compliance, and strategic planning.

  • Managed multi-million-dollar budgets, audits, and long-term financial planning with a clear focus on sustainability and student outcomes.

  • Designed and strengthened systems in a way that mirrors the complexity of larger districts while retaining the agility of a smaller system.

Her unique blend of big-system thinking and on-the-ground implementation makes her especially effective in helping districts and networks stabilize, grow, and improve.

Large District Operations & Budget Leadership

Early in her career, Maya served in the Oakland Unified School District, one of California’s largest urban school systems. There, she:

  • Served as a principal who was invited to sit on the Superintendent’s Advisory, engaging in districtwide conversations about school improvement, resource allocation, and large-scale priorities.

  • Advised on the larger district budget, helping examine how multi-hundred-million-dollar decisions impacted school sites, staffing, and student opportunities.

  • Later served as a Director of School Improvement, supporting schools and central office teams in aligning instructional goals with budget and operational realities.

This work gave her firsthand experience navigating the layers of governance, finance, and politics that define large districts and informed her ability to support large systems.

Advanced Training in Finance, HR & Executive Leadership

Maya’s practical experience is reinforced by advanced preparation from some of the nation’s leading leadership and superintendent training programs, including:

  • Duke University – Executive and strategic leadership training

  • Harvard—Advanced leadership development in public education 

  • Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) Superintendent Academy

  • ACSA Superintendent’s Academy

  • Chief Business Officer (CBO) training, with a focus on district budget structures, multi-year projections, and fiscal oversight

  • Human resources and personnel administration training, strengthening her ability to align HR, labor, and organizational strategy

This depth of preparation allows Maya to quickly understand and navigate:

  • Large, complex district culture, systems, and budgets

  • Medium district growth and restructuring challenges

  • Small district and charter network needs for systems, capacity-building, and sustainability

Labor–Management Expertise: Experience on Both Sides of the Table

Maya’s labor-relations experience is grounded in the reality that she has worked on both sides of the negotiation table:

  • As a union representative, she advocated for educators and school-site staff around working conditions, contract interpretation, and fair treatment.

  • As a district representative in OUSD, she participated in negotiations and discussions that required balancing fiscal constraints, student needs, and staff well-being.

  • As a charter superintendent, she led labor–management work, overseeing HR, personnel decisions, and organizational change in ways that honored people while protecting the system's health.

This dual perspective informs her consulting and advising work, allowing her to help districts navigate collective bargaining, employee relations, and organizational climate with nuance and respect.

From Traditional Public to Independent to Charter Systems

Maya’s leadership foundation began in traditional public school districts, where she developed a deep appreciation for the complexity of large systems and the importance of coherent, student-centred strategy.

She later expanded her practice in independent schools, refining her expertise in

  • College-preparatory programming

  • High-expectation, high-support school cultures

  • Strong parent and community partnership models

These experiences laid the groundwork for her later success in charter systems, where she spent more than 11 years as superintendent & CEO of AIMS K–12 College Prep Charter District, leading a network of schools that achieved exceptional results, including 100% college acceptance for 11 consecutive graduating classes.